Chicken plays tic-tac-toe at Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras Gaming in Hallandale Beach has hatched a promotion that gave away $10,000 Friday -- no poultry sum.
OK, enough. The casino's Chicken Challenge features a tic-tac-toe playing chicken. Most games end in a tie, just like regular tic-tac-toe, but people keep lining up to play. Of the more than 1,000 visitors who played over the first weekend, only 322 won, according to Mardi Gras marketing director Ann Zebrowski.
The chickens have been trained at tic-tac-toe — they know when to block, for example. Players hit a touch-screen with their selections — the chicken and the players alternate going first — then the chicken jumps up and hits a tic-tac-toe square inside its booth with its beak. The chick's pick then registers on the display screen.
The grand prize went last Friday, but the promotion continues. Beat it and you get $50 in free play.
NICK SORTAL began playing 3-card "gut" and "Indian poker" on high school band trips, moved on to "night baseball" and "pass the trash" during a Dr. Pepper-infused midnight game in the 1980s at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, and now play in a regular neighborhood Hold 'Em game in Plantation. I have been given the assignment of writing about the gambling life in South Florida casinos for the Sun-Sentinel...which means sitting around watching poker on TV now counts as research.
